China sentences Taiwanese activist to five years in jail for subversion

PHOTO: Reuters

BEIJING - A Chinese court on Tuesday sentenced Taiwanese rights activist Li Ming-che to five years in prison for subverting state power, according to the court's official social media account.

Li, a community college lecturer and an activist at a human rights non-governmental organisation in Taiwan, went missing while on a trip to China in March. Chinese authorities later charged him with subverting state power.

In the first hearing of Li's case in September, he confessed to subversion, according to videos of the hearing, though his wife refused to recognise the court's authority.

A verdict of five years imprisonment was handed to Li by the court for subversion of state power, according to a video of his proceedings released on social media by the Yueyang City Intermediate People's Court in central Hunan province.

A mainland Chinese rights activist Peng Yuhua, who was also tried alongside Li, was handed a seven-year sentence for the same crime.

Peng had been the instigator of subversion and Li had been an active participant, the court authorities said in the video.

Both Li and Peng said that they accepted the ruling and would not appeal the ruling, according to the video.